Tuesday, 19 June 2007

A Couple of American Main Course Salads

It’s that time of year again, and the salads are coming out again! Not that I don’t make salad year round, but I have a selection that although they are not Summer salads per se I only make them at this time of year so they are Summer salads to me at least.

These are my entry for an event called Salad Stravaganza! I had decided that my salads would come from Sheila Lukins fabulous U.S.A. Cookbook. A book that was published in 1997, I found it in a book shop in 1999 and have been charmed by it ever since. My favourite potato salad comes from this book – but more about that in another post. I managed to whittle down my choice of entry to two salads, but at the end of the day I couldn’t choose – they are too different – so here they both are.

Cowboy Rice Salad and Apricot, Ham and Cheese Salad. I don’t think there is any similarity to be drawn between them (except that they are in the same cook book!), but the diversity involved in all the different salads that can be made is not a small part of their charm. Now although they are not traditional diet salads they are both filling and I don’t need dessert after them – and believe my I have a raging sweet tooth!

Cowboy Rice Salad

Now, you’d probably guess based on rice, but once it’s made it’s all the add ins that leap out at you. Green beans, broad (lima) beans, kidney beans, chicken sausage and herbs and subtle spicing of the rice are great on their own, but the Luscious Lime Dressing makes it all sing together so well. I’ve played around with it a bit. Omitted sugar snap peas and used French green beans instead, and upped the chilli powder from ¼ teaspoon to ½ and also upped the turmeric powder from 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon. This is still essentially Sheila’s recipe if you’d like to make her recipe exactly just change the quantities in the recipe below to the above.

Bring a pot of water to the boil, add green beans and cook to still be a little al dente, but still crisp and green 4 mins or so. Refresh under cold water and set aside.Place the onion and live oil in a heavy saucepan. Cook stirring until the onion is wilted, about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice, chilli powder, turmeric and cinnamon stick. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. The rice should be cooked and the stock absorbed.Fluff the rice with a fork and add the rest of the ingredients. Check seasonings and serve in a pretty bowl.

Place the juice, honey, zest, garlic and salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk together.Slowly drizzle in the oil and whisk until combined. Makes ¾ cup – so you will have some leftover.

Apricot Ham and Cheese Salad

This is a quickly assembled salad that is tasty and yummy. One to remember if you have leftover baked ham! I haven’t changed any ingredients but have altered the method slightly to give less washing up. Also Sheila gives size of dice, but I don’t think it matters that much here. I’ve made it with sour cream and low fat yoghurt, and they both taste good. The sour cream gives a smooth mouth feel and the yoghurt doesn’t which makes a lighter dressing. I served this with some Jersey Royal potatoes tossed in a small amount of butter.

Kelly-Jane - I am not the biggest fan of apricots, but I would happily eat them in your divine ham and cheese salad. Not only does it look beautiful, it looks substantial. I should look into making Winter salads at lunchtime instead of soup, soup, and more soup. You have inspired me!